esteira

esteira¹ mat, matting

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /isˈte(j).ɾɐ/, [isˈte(ɪ̯).ɾɐ], /esˈte(j).ɾɐ/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /iʃˈte(j).ɾɐ/, [iʃˈte(ɪ̯).ɾɐ], /eʃˈte(j).ɾɐ/^[1]
• Portugal: /(i)ʃˈtɐj.ɾɐ/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /(i)ʃˈtej.ɾɐ/^[1]

Forms

esteira f (plural esteiras)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the mat is probably borrowed from Spanish estera, from Latin storea (“a mat of rushes or rope”) (also written storia).^[2][1][3][4] The Meyer-Lübke dictionary also derives the Portuguese form from the Spanish one.^[5] Houaiss reports Corominas's view that a form Old Spanish estuera must have come between the Latin and the modern Spanish word, and that the corresponding Portuguese form changed to keep it apart from estoura “bursts”.^[2] Corominas also rejects a Latin *staria as the source.^[2] Corominas's own article has the Spanish word probably pass through that intermediate form.^[6] Cunha does not speak of Spanish: for him the word, like the Spanish one, goes back to the Latin word with a change of suffix.^[7] Houaiss's 13th-century date for Portuguese is older than his date for the Spanish word (1490).^[2][8]

The same Latin word is Galician esteira, Catalan estora, Old Occitan estueira and Italian stuoia.^[5][9] Wiktionary connects the Latin word with sternō (“to spread out”) and Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃-, while the OLD calls its origin doubtful.^[10][11] estore is a doublet, taken from French.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria mention esteiras together with doors (con portas e con esteiras), and in a cantiga of escarnho by Lopo Liaz the esteira vermelha “red mat” seems to be a packsaddle made of matting.^[12][13][14]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries describe a fabric of rushes, cattail or palm leaves: Feijó (1734) names those three, and Morais (1789) says it covers floors.^[15][16] In a passage of Fernão Mendes Pinto quoted by Vieira the visitors are made to sit on mats, and Camões describes sails made of palm-leaf matting.^[17][18] Houaiss records its use for wrapping goods and for the sails of small boats, and in sailors' language the word names the lower edge of a sail.^[2][19]

The word was also given to the moving belt: an esteira rolante carries goods, luggage or sugar cane, and in Brazil an esteira is also a treadmill for exercise.^[18][19][1] In Marajó and Pará it is a packsaddle pad of bound rushes, and in candomblé the esteira de Ifá is a small straw mat used in divination.^[2][19][20]

Timeline

• 13th century – esteiras in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[12][2][7]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin storia.^[21]
• 1734 – Feijó: a mat woven of rush, cattail or palm.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais: matting to cover floors.^[16]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the mat and the wake of a ship under one heading, both from Latin storea.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mat or matting woven of rushes, straw, palm or similar fibres, used on floors and walls or for wrapping: Estendeu uma esteira de palha na areia.^[2][19][1]
2. (nautical) The lower edge of a sail (vela).^[2][19][3]
3. A moving belt that carries goods or people; a conveyor belt (esteira rolante).^[2][19][18]
4. (Brazil) A treadmill for exercise.^[18][1]
5. (Brazil) A pad of rushes on which a packsaddle sits.^[2][19][23]

esteira² wake of a ship; track

Etymology tree of esteira²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin aestus

Latin aestuārium

French étier

Portuguese esteira

Spanish estero

English estuary

From the same root · esteira²

Latin aestifer ← aestus

Latin aestīvus ← aestus

Latin aestuō ← aestus

Latin aestuōsus ← aestus

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /isˈte(j).ɾɐ/, [isˈte(ɪ̯).ɾɐ], /esˈte(j).ɾɐ/^[1]
• Rio-de-Janeiro: /iʃˈte(j).ɾɐ/, [iʃˈte(ɪ̯).ɾɐ], /eʃˈte(j).ɾɐ/^[1]
• Portugal: /(i)ʃˈtɐj.ɾɐ/^[1]
• Northern, Portugal: /(i)ʃˈtej.ɾɐ/^[1]

Forms

esteira f (plural esteiras)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the wake of a ship is inherited from Latin aestuāria (“tidal flat; creek, inlet”), the plural of the Latin noun, according to Houaiss, Nascentes and Aurélio.^[2][4][19] The same Latin word gave esteiro “inlet, creek”, which Cortesão and the DLP take as the direct source.^[24][3] A. Coelho, with some doubt, derived it from esteira¹ “mat” by a metaphor, a view that Houaiss finds untenable.^[24][2] Aurélio compares Spanish estela.^[19]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the nautical sense, the foaming track a ship leaves behind it in the water, to 1498.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the wake of a ship the word came to mean any track, trace or course, and then a model to follow: the old Caldas Aulete quotes Gonçalves Dias for essa esteira de amor and for the track the moon draws on the water.^[18][2] The phrases ir na esteira de “to follow close behind” and seguir a esteira de “to follow someone's example or a cause” belong here.^[2][19] Figueiredo (1899) also records it as slang for “road”.^[22] In north-eastern Brazil an esteira (masculine) is the cowboy who rides behind the leaders of a herd, and in Cape Verde the word names a period of mourning.^[2][25][3]

Timeline

• 1498 – first record of the sense “wake of a ship”.^[2]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the senses “wake”, “trace” and “example”.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) The wake of a ship: the foaming track it leaves in the water.^[2][19][1]
2. (figurative) A track, trace or sign (vestígio) left by someone or something.^[2][19]
3. (figurative) A course or direction; a model (modelo) to follow: Seguiu a esteira do avô na medicina.^[2][19][3]
4. (Brazil) A gully on a beach.^[2][19]
5. (north-eastern Brazil, masculine) A vaqueiro who rides behind the leading cowboys when driving cattle.^[2][19][25]